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The general election betting moves to LAB since the arrival of Truss – politicalbetting.com

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  • Punitive increases in taxes on non resident foreign ownership and second homes. Get some of the 700,000 second homes and 250,000 homes owned by non residents back on the market. That is close to 1 million homes.
    You’ve already got the envelope tax at just over 1%. Not sure how many it captures but as a mechanism that would force people to sell or rent out if you increased it

  • Dr. Foxy - A year or so ago, a very bright friend and I discussed the possibility of interstellar travel. We agreed that "generation ships" were almost certainly possible -- though so costly, and requiring so much engineering work that it might take a unified world government spending 1% of the world's GDP over 100 years to build a fleet of them.

    (You would almost certainly spin them to provide a substitute for gravity,and use nuclear power to run a closed ecology. Such ships could, in principle, travel for hundreds of years. I believe laser-powered solar sails could move such ships at a significant fraction of light speed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship )

    If you see an obvious error in our thinking, I'd like to know to know what it is.

    Would you be will to take Ted Williams's head along for the ride?
  • Britain runs low on ammo as Ukraine bombards Kremlin forces
    Arms industry yet to ramp up production despite Ukraine's need for weapons

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/09/24/britain-runs-low-ammo-ukraine-bombards-kremlin-forces/ (£££)

    Boris gave away arms stocks but never got round to ordering replacements. Likewise LizT but to be fair, she's not been in the job long.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,836
    Foxy said:

    I do think that the medical difficulties of life in space are such that travel to other solar systems would be fatal. The same probably is true of aliens.

    It must be AI robots interested in probing our bottoms.
    The medical difficulties are principally that our bodies don't deal well without gravity.

    That isn't a (long term) insurmountable problem.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,613
    edited September 2022
    boulay said:

    Forgive me for being an absolute idiot but in floodplains why don’t they build houses on stilts and give everyone a fan-boat?

    Apparently there are parts of the world people live in that are quite waterlogged and they cope.

    Brave name for a development (next to the River Culm in Devon, as it happens), calling it Water Meadow: no idea of the actual flood risk.
    https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8514795,-3.3902935,3a,27.1y,133.17h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szmuyT0XvA3J54SC9yxMJRA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
  • Nope. As someone who has been involved in 3 separate self build projects going back over 50 years or more (the first was my dad building his own house in 1970) I can assure you that planning permission is not the issue. The massive issue is building regs which become ever more labyrinthine and unsuited to small scale home building.

    As I said the other day, the default position of planning decisions is to permit. Indeed we already zone for development in this country - it is called the local plan. The problem is that as soon as that land is zoned for development the big companies buy it up and sit on it.

    One change we could make (and should) is to return to the practice of 30 years ago or more whereby the developer had to pay the specific costs of developing the infrastructure - schools, doctors etc. This no longer happens as the law now allows them to make a smaller up front payment to the local council who then spend that money and don't build the infrastructure.

    There are many things wrong with our housebuilding system but planning is not the big one. Stop the developers sitting on vast tracts of land with planning permission for years and that will make a big difference.
    It shouldn't be possible for anyone to buy all the land that is zoned for development, since there should always be zones available. If all zones have been bought up, then have new zones available. That will make the developers buying land and sitting on it, utterly worthless.
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507

    Yep that seems sensible to me. Certainly, the plan we have followed for the last century of simply increasing the size of existing towns and villages has been environmentally and socially disastrous. It has destroyed much precious and endangered habitat and has failed to provide the necessary infrastructure to support the increased numbers. New towns seems a far more sensible idea.

    As I mentioned last week they plan on putting new solar farms on 10,000 acres of farmland in North Lincolnshire. At the same time plans were announced earlier this week for a new reservoir in Lincolnshire covering 4,500 acres to provide water to Cambridge. That is 14,500 acres of land. (which for reference is an area larger than Swindon or Ipswich or Peterborough) The main reason being quoted for putting these facilities in Lincolnshire is that the land is cheaper than elsewhere further south.

    So I would suggest some of that land towards the Lincolnshire coast would be well suited to a big new development like you describe.
    Why can't they put the solar panels on the reservoir on floats? Geese wouldn't like it but evaporation would be lower.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,204
    Off topic, but important: Fiona, having damaged Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas, is now attacking eastern Canada: "One of the strongest storms ever to hit Canada slammed into Nova Scotia’s coastline early Saturday, leaving most of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island without power.

    Former hurricane Fiona made landfall early Saturday over Guysborough county on the northeast corner of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada’s weather service said. There were maximum sustained winds of almost 81 mph, while peak gusts of over 100 mph were detected, it added."
    source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/24/hurricane-fiona-nova-scotia-canada/

    There are similar problems in Newfoundland.

    When I wrote about it here, earlier this week, I mentioned this possibility, but said I expected it to weaken significantly before it hit Canada. That's what usually happens as hurricanes go north, but I was wrong this time.

    So far there are no deaths reported, and I hope that continues ot be true, for our good neighbors to the north.
  • Carnyx said:

    Hmm, take your dog to work and keep your feet warm.
    Isn't running cooler temperatures discriminatory against women? For instance, from seven years ago:
    https://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2015/aug/04/new-cold-war-why-women-chilly-at-work-air-conditioning
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,432

    Dr. Foxy - A year or so ago, a very bright friend and I discussed the possibility of interstellar travel. We agreed that "generation ships" were almost certainly possible -- though so costly, and requiring so much engineering work that it might take a unified world government spending 1% of the world's GDP over 100 years to build a fleet of them.

    (You would almost certainly spin them to provide a substitute for gravity,and use nuclear power to run a closed ecology. Such ships could, in principle, travel for hundreds of years. I believe laser-powered solar sails could move such ships at a significant fraction of light speed. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship )

    If you see an obvious error in our thinking, I'd like to know to know what it is.

    Protection against cosmic radiation may be a problem.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,001
    edited September 2022

    Most of those places don't worry about things like sewerage systems. Not sure it is a model we should be following.
    Ok - but there are enough bright people surely to design housing areas where the sewerage is buried and the houses are raised - if you live in an area that gets massively flooded I’m assuming the worst thing is that all your possessions, the electrics etc get buggered by the flooding.

    If you have a house on stilts then the horrors are at least massively reduced to your possessions.

    With all the technology and experience in the world surely it’s not above engineers and architects to design buildings and infrastructure that mitigates against the worst of flooding and frees up land rather than just saying “it’s a bit difficult so let’s not bother”?

    Just to Edit, Richard I believe you work in the oil industry - people didn’t just say “shot the oil is under the sea bed” they worked out how to make pipes and tubes and drills and platforms to get to it - you of all people could work out how to build such areas?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Carnyx said:

    Brave name for a development (next to the River Culm in Devon, as it happens), calling it Water Meadow: no idea of the actual flood risk.
    https://www.google.com/maps/@50.8514795,-3.3902935,3a,27.1y,133.17h,86.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1szmuyT0XvA3J54SC9yxMJRA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
    There's a new development outside Launceston called Kensey Valley Meadow, the Kensey being a river. Floods like fuck, and there is a sewage works in the floodplain.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,613
    boulay said:

    Ok - but there are enough bright people surely to design housing areas where the sewerage is buried and the houses are raised - if you live in an area that gets massively flooded I’m assuming the worst thing is that all your possessions, the electrics etc get buggered by the flooding.

    If you have a house on stilts then the horrors are at least massively reduced to your possessions.

    With all the technology and experience in the world surely it’s not above engineers and architects to design buildings and infrastructure that mitigates against the worst of flooding and frees up land rather than just saying “it’s a bit difficult so let’s not bother”?

    Just to Edit, Richard I believe you work in the oil industry - people didn’t just say “shot the oil is under the sea bed” they worked out how to make pipes and tubes and drills and platforms to get to it - you of all people could work out how to build such areas?
    IANAE but recall reading this ...

    https://www.thenational.scot/news/14859658.how-floating-dutch-homes-simply-rise-with-the-floodwater/
  • Nope. As someone who has been involved in 3 separate self build projects going back over 50 years or more (the first was my dad building his own house in 1970) I can assure you that planning permission is not the issue. The massive issue is building regs which become ever more labyrinthine and unsuited to small scale home building.

    As I said the other day, the default position of planning decisions is to permit. Indeed we already zone for development in this country - it is called the local plan. The problem is that as soon as that land is zoned for development the big companies buy it up and sit on it.

    One change we could make (and should) is to return to the practice of 30 years ago or more whereby the developer had to pay the specific costs of developing the infrastructure - schools, doctors etc. This no longer happens as the law now allows them to make a smaller up front payment to the local council who then spend that money and don't build the infrastructure.

    There are many things wrong with our housebuilding system but planning is not the big one. Stop the developers sitting on vast tracts of land with planning permission for years and that will make a big difference.
    To follow on from this posting on the issue of self build.

    The three biggest factors preventing the growth of self build in the UK (apart from the fact there is not much of a tradition of it at the moment)

    1. Lack of land being made available exclusively for self building rather than developers. In Holland the local authority pays for all the infrastructure to be put in place (roads, sewerage, etc) prior to selling the plots and the costs are recouped through the cost of buying the plot. These estates are exclusively for the self builder. No developers allowed.
    2. Most institutions won't lend to self builders. All three projects I have been involved with needed a complex arrangement of bridging loans and raising private funds or remortgaging an existing property to be able to pay for the self build.
    3. Building regs which become more complex by the year. The only way the most recent project I was involved with was able to proceed was because the local building inspector was a decent bloke who put in many extra hours outside of his normal workload helping the owner understand and navigate the regulations.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    rcs1000 said:

    The medical difficulties are principally that our bodies don't deal well without gravity.

    That isn't a (long term) insurmountable problem.
    Cosmic rays seem to be much more of an issue. You can sort out gravity with spin, pending inventing AG. No such fix for cosmic rays.
  • boulay said:

    Still, tonnes of crime committed at lesser supermarkets.
    Technical term (at least in US) for such loses in market small or super is "shrinkage".
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,001

    Technical term (at least in US) for such loses in market small or super is "shrinkage".

    Sorry, wasn’t making a judgement but making a pun with first pair of words.
  • boulay said:

    Ok - but there are enough bright people surely to design housing areas where the sewerage is buried and the houses are raised - if you live in an area that gets massively flooded I’m assuming the worst thing is that all your possessions, the electrics etc get buggered by the flooding.

    If you have a house on stilts then the horrors are at least massively reduced to your possessions.

    With all the technology and experience in the world surely it’s not above engineers and architects to design buildings and infrastructure that mitigates against the worst of flooding and frees up land rather than just saying “it’s a bit difficult so let’s not bother”?

    Just to Edit, Richard I believe you work in the oil industry - people didn’t just say “shot the oil is under the sea bed” they worked out how to make pipes and tubes and drills and platforms to get to it - you of all people could work out how to build such areas?
    I agree. It is possible. But it is expensive. Actually, in flood areas it is easier to follow the old traditions. Stone flagged floors, no plaster or paper on walls and all furniture removable to upper storeys. You see this in some towns in the lake district. When the floods arrive you open all the doors and let the water flow through. The trouble is that these houses have now been bought by people who want to put carpets and laminate flooring down and have fitted kitchens.
  • Why can't they put the solar panels on the reservoir on floats? Geese wouldn't like it but evaporation would be lower.
    This is actually a very popular idea in certain circles, it has already been done near me, Godley reservoir near Hyde, Manchester you can see them on satellite view on Google maps. I know in places like California they use black floating balls to reduce evaporation, so why not make the area extra productive with solar panels.
  • Why can't they put the solar panels on the reservoir on floats? Geese wouldn't like it but evaporation would be lower.
    Thats brilliant. :)
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,204
    rcs1000 said: "The medical difficulties are principally that our bodies don't deal well without gravity.

    That isn't a (long term) insurmountable problem."

    Discussions that I have seen assume the generation ships will spin, so that centrifugal force supplies a substitute fo gravity.

    (In the "Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition", Ed Regis describes (among many other things) an experiment with putting chickens in a centrifuge that gave them 2.5 times their ordinary weight. The chickens came out healthy and very strong. As I recall, they used chickens because they are bipeds with short life spans.)
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,613
    edited September 2022

    I agree. It is possible. But it is expensive. Actually, in flood areas it is easier to follow the old traditions. Stone flagged floors, no plaster or paper on walls and all furniture removable to upper storeys. You see this in some towns in the lake district. When the floods arrive you open all the doors and let the water flow through. The trouble is that these houses have now been bought by people who want to put carpets and laminate flooring down and have fitted kitchens.
    Also nowadays I imagine you have all sorts of toxic crap floating in and on the water which you didn't before - oil and petrol and nasties of all kinds, to add to the good old-fashioned 100% organic dead doggies and pussies and sheep and sewage.

    Edit: wondered if you could seal the stonework, but you know what it's like doing that to something that needs to breathe.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 56,022

    Technical term (at least in US) for such loses in market small or super is "shrinkage".
    Same in the UK. Shrinkage is the difference at the end of the stock take, between what is actually there and what should be there.
  • paulyork64paulyork64 Posts: 2,507

    This is actually a very popular idea in certain circles, it has already been done near me, Godley reservoir near Hyde, Manchester you can see them on satellite view on Google maps. I know in places like California they use black floating balls to reduce evaporation, so why not make the area extra productive with solar panels.
    Found them thanks. They look flat rather than angled to South. Is that right?
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,613

    Found them thanks. They look flat rather than angled to South. Is that right?
    Intderesting, to stop them straining the anchorages and sailing off like a By-the-wind-sailor [kind of small Portuguoese man o'war]?
  • pingping Posts: 3,805
    edited September 2022
    Dan Hodges impressed with the audacity, but overall, rather unimpressed by the uncoservativeness of kamikwazinomics;

    https://www.mailplus.co.uk/edition/comment/225246/kwasinomics-are-easily-explained-hes-bet-the-whole-of-britain-on-red-at-the-roulette-table

    (Paywall can be rather trivially sidestepped by loading “reader” mode)

    I might just forward to my (tory) MP. He spent 2015-20 furiously retweeting Dan Hodges. Might just have an effect.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,204
    "The radiation environment of deep space is very different from that on the Earth's surface, or in low earth orbit, due to the much larger influx of high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). Like other ionizing radiation, high-energy cosmic rays can damage DNA and increase the risk of cancer, cataracts, and neurological disorders.[15] One known practical solution to this problem is surrounding the crewed parts of the ship with a thick enough shielding such as a thick layer of maintained ice as proposed in The Songs of Distant Earth, a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke (note: in this book the ship's mammoth ice shield is only in the forward part of the ship, preventing micrometeors from damaging the ship during its interstellar journey)."
    source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship

    It seems likely to me that the "farming" part of such ships would also be used for shielding.
  • CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 44,613
    IshmaelZ said:

    Cosmic rays seem to be much more of an issue. You can sort out gravity with spin, pending inventing AG. No such fix for cosmic rays.
    You can screen to some extent, but it takes mass or magnetic fields. Which btw plays a role in a SF novel I have just read about visiting the Jupiter planetary complex.

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Flight-Aphrodite-S-J-Morden/dp/1473228581
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 19,118
    edited September 2022

    Anyone got a dehumidifier recommendation?

    Our 3 litre dehumidifier is from the below company, though looks like they don't make that size anymore. It's big enough to help dry laundry in a small room, so you would need a larger one for a larger room.

    https://probreeze.com/product-category/dehumidifiers/

    The NYT reviews are normally worth looking at.
    https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-dehumidifier/

    As are Which.
    https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/dehumidifiers/article/how-to-buy-the-best-dehumidifier-ay5gu4q77WQN
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,004
    edited September 2022

    The vast majority of rural England is not built on. Admittedly some land would not be suitable.

    What is the footprint for a good size home and garden. Let's say 400 sq metres.

    A million homes would be 400 million sq metres or 400 sq km.

    England is 130,000 sq km.

    So 0.3% of England's land mass. About the size of Rutland.

    Have I missed something?
    400 sq metre plot (Even including road space) is humungous by Persimmon/Avant/Barratt's standards. So you'd probably need less area.

    I've got about 5 new estates within a few miles of my house even though property values are comparitively cheap here. So houses are being built. In Bassetlaw.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,432
    edited September 2022
    I am musing on building a self build for my retirement, but finding plots here is difficult. Easiest is to buy a derelict house or other building and demolish it, I think.

    I have a rather idiosyncratic place in mind. Eco design bungalow with African/Australian style large veranda, internal courtyard, outdoor shower, cellar etc

    Like this, but on a smaller scale.

    https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/south-african-farmhouse-country-verandah-amsterdam-phvw-vp~1177672
  • Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 33,167
    edited September 2022
    boulay said:


    This sort of goes back to the whole pre-fab situation (the answer IMHO to a lot of probs) that if there was a set of solutions with equipment made for it and houses, sewage pipes, waterproofed utilities, standardised designs etc etc then you could open up huge areas of land for housing.

    I imagine the first oil rig in the North Sea effectively cost a fortune but every one afterwards cost less because you standardise the structure and materials and plant them.

    A company that, and maybe an offshoot from the oil rig making industry. Could pre-pack the utilities and the structures married with a Huff-house type company would be able to build huge amounts of housing on otherwise tricky land. Also would create, I hope, lots of jobs in the pre-packed housing industry in the UK. Maybe that’s ridiculous…
    I agree this would be a good way to go (although the oil rig example is a bad comparison because each one is built to unique specifications and become more expensive to deal with more and more extreme environments. Also the early ones had a nasty habit of falling over.) But that doesn't detract from your point.

    Pre packed wood framed building is massive in Europe. But again it has had little impact in the UK not least because of building regs.
  • Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 3,204
    Happened to catch a story on NHK World a few weeks ago about a Japanese experiment in putting solar panels over parking lots. Done right, you could provide protection from the weather for the cars and drivers, and get some power as a bonus.

    If there is a flaw in the idea, I don't see it.
  • Found them thanks. They look flat rather than angled to South. Is that right?
    So they are slightly angled not flat, but not as much as ideally you would want to increase efficiency. However this is done for a reason and that's to reduce then acting like sails, is a balancing act. I read somewhere a while ago United utilities have installed another floating array, smaller installation 1MW compared to Godley's 3.5MW, but have the ability to change the angle depending on conditions.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 58,836

    Happened to catch a story on NHK World a few weeks ago about a Japanese experiment in putting solar panels over parking lots. Done right, you could provide protection from the weather for the cars and drivers, and get some power as a bonus.

    If there is a flaw in the idea, I don't see it.

    That's very popular in Arizona: pretty much all new parking lots have solar shades.
  • Britain runs low on ammo as Ukraine bombards Kremlin forces
    Arms industry yet to ramp up production despite Ukraine's need for weapons

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/09/24/britain-runs-low-ammo-ukraine-bombards-kremlin-forces/ (£££)

    Boris gave away arms stocks but never got round to ordering replacements. Likewise LizT but to be fair, she's not been in the job long.

    I did worry this would happen. Wartime production levels need to be much higher than peacetime levels. It needs government commitment to pay for new production lines.
  • Happened to catch a story on NHK World a few weeks ago about a Japanese experiment in putting solar panels over parking lots. Done right, you could provide protection from the weather for the cars and drivers, and get some power as a bonus.

    If there is a flaw in the idea, I don't see it.

    Upfront costs is all I can really think of. As EV become more popular I can see supermarkets looking into it for their parking charge points
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,644
    Foxy said:

    I am musing on building a self build for my retirement, but finding plots here is difficult. Easiest is to buy a derelict house or other building and demolish it, I think.

    I have a rather idiosyncratic place in mind. Eco design bungalow with African/Australian style large veranda, internal courtyard, outdoor shower, cellar etc

    Like this, but on a smaller scale.

    https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/south-african-farmhouse-country-verandah-amsterdam-phvw-vp~1177672

    It looks amazing, Foxy. I know a few people who've done self-build, and it's pretty crucial to enjoy the process, as the ones who don't get unbearably frustrated, as there's always one more hold-up and the two-year project turns into four. But if you don't mind that and can afford it, it really does give them a sense of belonging and identity that you don't get if you just move to a random bungalow off Rightmove.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,001

    I agree this would be a good way to go (although the oil rig example is a bad comparison because each one is built to unique specifications and become more expensive to deal with more and more extreme environments. Also the early ones had a nasty habit of falling over.) But that doesn't detract from your point.

    Pre packed wood framed building is massive in Europe. But again it has had little impact in the UK not least because of building regs.
    Sorry - I know absolutely fuck all about oil rigs or building frankly!

    The point is there are so many intelligent people working in the Uk who - if for example - the govt said “create a solution for this” in the way they did for munitions or inventions firming WW2 then I think great things could happen.

    If they stopped controlling and basically let crazy chaps like bBarnes Wallis have a bit of space and a relatively small amount of
    money try and fail and create them for the price they could create some great things.

    Instead of sticking with the things that exist they need to try everything - if it’s good enough with taxes to take a “throw shot at the wall and see what works” approach then really open it up to inventors, mavericks, loons.

    (The first b in bBarnes Wallis above is a silent “B”; his father dropped it as he felt it was pretentious).

  • MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 39,674

    I was in the Sainsbury's garage today waiting to pay, and a bloke ran out with his arms full of stuff he'd swiped off the shelves. This isn't a normal occurence, even in SE14. Society is fraying around the edges.
    (i didn't chase after him, I am a loyal Sainsbury's shopper but not that loyal).

    Sounds like South London to me.
  • IshmaelZ said:

    There's a new development outside Launceston called Kensey Valley Meadow, the Kensey being a river. Floods like fuck, and there is a sewage works in the floodplain.
    Dredge the river.
  • TimSTimS Posts: 14,454
    edited September 2022

    So they are slightly angled not flat, but not as much as ideally you would want to increase efficiency. However this is done for a reason and that's to reduce then acting like sails, is a balancing act. I read somewhere a while ago United utilities have installed another floating array, smaller installation 1MW compared to Godley's 3.5MW, but have the ability to change the angle depending on conditions.
    Floatovoltaic I think it’s called. Would be a no brainer for the highly evaporative lake Nasser.
  • FoxyFoxy Posts: 50,432

    It looks amazing, Foxy. I know a few people who've done self-build, and it's pretty crucial to enjoy the process, as the ones who don't get unbearably frustrated, as there's always one more hold-up and the two-year project turns into four. But if you don't mind that and can afford it, it really does give them a sense of belonging and identity that you don't get if you just move to a random bungalow off Rightmove.
    I rather took to this style of living when in Africa, and Australia and Mrs Foxy loves the style too.

    I would plan some weatherproofing for the verandah. Can't completely rely on global warming!
  • PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 79,004
    rcs1000 said:

    That's very popular in Arizona: pretty much all new parking lots have solar shades.
    Did you enjoy the Sabaton gig ?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,581
    ...

    Anyone got a dehumidifier recommendation?

    Open a window?
  • ...

    Open a window?
    Not much help if it's raining outside or you don't want to lose all your expensive heating to the neighborhood.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,581

    Not much help if it's raining outside or you don't want to lose all your expensive heating to the neighborhood.
    I just assumed the sun always shines at Chez Horse.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,213
    It’s not, of course.

    https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1573365018808451072
    Trump endorsed congressional candidate JR Majewski today says that the reason why there is no record of him serving in combat in Afghanistan in his service record is because it is “classified.”

    https://twitter.com/Stonekettle/status/1573422579502702607
    Thing about this guy: he served.

    It was nothing spectacular. But he served. He spent a couple months loading planes in Qatar. They don't make movies about Air Force logistics guys, but he served. That's more than a lot of people did.

    He could have ran on that record…
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,412
    boulay said:

    “Strictly useless idiot” is going to be the next BBC Saturday night extravaganza where they get journalists together, like a cross between the apprentice and mastermind, and ask them to solve basic maths questions and send them outside of London to test their understanding of the general population.

    Nobody would bet against Peston winning by a mile.
  • TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    Foxy said:

    I am musing on building a self build for my retirement, but finding plots here is difficult. Easiest is to buy a derelict house or other building and demolish it, I think.

    I have a rather idiosyncratic place in mind. Eco design bungalow with African/Australian style large veranda, internal courtyard, outdoor shower, cellar etc

    Like this, but on a smaller scale.

    https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/south-african-farmhouse-country-verandah-amsterdam-phvw-vp~1177672

    That's very elegant, I would be lost there. My house is a workshop---electronic, mechanical and research---with the rigid proviso that no fuel powered engines can cross the threshold. Small wonder that my partner lives elsewhere.
  • TresTres Posts: 2,755
    Back from a lovely long holiday - has anything of note happened in the last few weeks?
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,412

    Off topic, but important: Fiona, having damaged Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas, is now attacking eastern Canada: "One of the strongest storms ever to hit Canada slammed into Nova Scotia’s coastline early Saturday, leaving most of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island without power.

    Former hurricane Fiona made landfall early Saturday over Guysborough county on the northeast corner of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada’s weather service said. There were maximum sustained winds of almost 81 mph, while peak gusts of over 100 mph were detected, it added."
    source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/24/hurricane-fiona-nova-scotia-canada/

    There are similar problems in Newfoundland.

    When I wrote about it here, earlier this week, I mentioned this possibility, but said I expected it to weaken significantly before it hit Canada. That's what usually happens as hurricanes go north, but I was wrong this time.

    So far there are no deaths reported, and I hope that continues ot be true, for our good neighbors to the north.

    It must have made the Nova Scotians of Scots ancestry feel quite homesick.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,581

    Not really, since as I said if a zone needs to be kept free due to environmental risks then with a sensible zoning system you zone that plain as not suitable for development.

    I never said build anywhere, I said build on zones where development is acceptable. If development is unacceptable there, it should be zoned that way, then its not a problem that its not developed.

    The problem with our system, as we discussed the other day, is that unlike nations like Belgium and Netherlands with zonal development systems whereby its easy to build a new home in approved zones so most people self-build, in this country the planning system is so messed up that only developers navigate it.
    Are you simply digging a deeper hole for yourself or are you digging a comprehensive drainage system?
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    boulay said:

    Sorry - I know absolutely fuck all about oil rigs or building frankly!

    The point is there are so many intelligent people working in the Uk who - if for example - the govt said “create a solution for this” in the way they did for munitions or inventions firming WW2 then I think great things could happen.

    If they stopped controlling and basically let crazy chaps like bBarnes Wallis have a bit of space and a relatively small amount of
    money try and fail and create them for the price they could create some great things.

    Instead of sticking with the things that exist they need to try everything - if it’s good enough with taxes to take a “throw shot at the wall and see what works” approach then really open it up to inventors, mavericks, loons.

    (The first b in bBarnes Wallis above is a silent “B”; his father dropped it as he felt it was pretentious).

    His dad was a very self effacing man. Someone with less bounce, is not something you would eder see.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 75,213
    Along the lines of Leon’s Brexit/pregnancy metaphor.

    A live look at the economy…
    https://twitter.com/caroljsroth/status/1547246036523048962
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,838
    Has Truss actually been very clever in appointing a Chancellor whose name lends itself to puns and witticisms - Kwasinomics, Kamikwasi etc - so that people won't be linking these economic policies to her personally?
  • Pro_RataPro_Rata Posts: 5,505
    edited September 2022

    Not much help if it's raining outside or you don't want to lose all your expensive heating to the neighborhood.
    I think that may be wrong.

    One council, may have been Bournemouth, recommended opening windows for a short period to keep your house warm, in addition to the more usual removing condensation.

    Idea was that a change of air in winter pretty much always brought in dryer air than indoor air full of all that breathing, showering, gas hob use etc. and the easier job of bringing dry air up to temperature would more than compensate 20 minutes of heat loss.

    That would include in a rainstorm - water saturated air at 5 degrees would still carry less water than somewhat humid indoor air at 18 degrees.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,412

    Isn't running cooler temperatures discriminatory against women? For instance, from seven years ago:
    https://www.theguardian.com/money/shortcuts/2015/aug/04/new-cold-war-why-women-chilly-at-work-air-conditioning
    If offices are going to reduce the temperature to 18C to save energy costs, they will need to allow women workers to wear onesies at work.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,278
    Labour confirms it would reverse Kwarteng's top rate of tax cuts if elected at the next general election

    https://twitter.com/KarlTurnerMP/status/1573593107366559747?s=20&t=0ELUvCsWnnPprW8iqRaavA
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Dredge the river.
    Terrible advice.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,838
    HYUFD said:

    Labour confirms it would reverse Kwarteng's top rate of tax cuts if elected at the next general election

    https://twitter.com/KarlTurnerMP/status/1573593107366559747?s=20&t=0ELUvCsWnnPprW8iqRaavA

    They've fallen into the cunning trap designed to decimate their support among the ultra-high earners,
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,664

    I've got round to this very late but, after reviewing all 600+ of The Queen's charities, I've decided to donate to the following - one's that speak to both me and her, and I am pleased to support:

    • GOSH hospital
    • Girl Guides
    • National Churches Trust
    • Royal Historical Society
    • Royal Forestry Society
    I may pick a military benevolent fund as well, probably for engineers, but for now these are my civilian choices.
    Let's have a shout out for the Sandringham Estate Cottage Horticultural Society, just as worthy of support.

  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,581
    HYUFD said:

    Labour confirms it would reverse Kwarteng's top rate of tax cuts if elected at the next general election

    https://twitter.com/KarlTurnerMP/status/1573593107366559747?s=20&t=0ELUvCsWnnPprW8iqRaavA

    The party of high taxation!
  • DynamoDynamo Posts: 651

    Kids.

    As a young adult I was very happy to use drying racks or radiators etc for mine and then my wife's clothes.

    But with a family, doing a family's load of laundry, tumble dryers are a blessing.

    Especially since cleaning a house with a couple of young kids is in itself much more of a chore, without even thinking about laundry it's like running on a treadmill just to stand still so anything that helps like dryers are very useful, especially in winter.
    Is "drying rack" what posh people call a clothes horse?

    The best place to hang wet clothes if you cannot afford to run radiators is on a clothes horse in front of a coal fire or an open oven door. You will be using the gas oven for heating anyway if you haven't got a coal fire or if you can only afford to heat one room, in which case it should be the kitchen for obvious reasons.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,839
    IshmaelZ said:

    Terrible advice.
    Why, out of interest?
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 13,664
    Tres said:

    Back from a lovely long holiday - has anything of note happened in the last few weeks?

    No. It's been remarkably quiet.

  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,412

    To follow on from this posting on the issue of self build.

    The three biggest factors preventing the growth of self build in the UK (apart from the fact there is not much of a tradition of it at the moment)

    1. Lack of land being made available exclusively for self building rather than developers. In Holland the local authority pays for all the infrastructure to be put in place (roads, sewerage, etc) prior to selling the plots and the costs are recouped through the cost of buying the plot. These estates are exclusively for the self builder. No developers allowed.
    2. Most institutions won't lend to self builders. All three projects I have been involved with needed a complex arrangement of bridging loans and raising private funds or remortgaging an existing property to be able to pay for the self build.
    3. Building regs which become more complex by the year. The only way the most recent project I was involved with was able to proceed was because the local building inspector was a decent bloke who put in many extra hours outside of his normal workload helping the owner understand and navigate the regulations.
    Fairliered jnr. is in the early stages of a self build. Planners, contractors, etc. have all been helpful. Lenders, considerably less so. BTW he is in @RochdalePioneers territory.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    ydoethur said:

    Why, out of interest?
    Say a flood is 5 x river capacity. you can't really hope to dredge a river to 2 x what it was undredged. therefore you are stressing the river infrastructure (embankments, banks, bridges, everything) by doubling the load on it (probably a square or cube thing actually so x 4 or x 8) and only slightly ameliorating the flood problem.
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,581
    Tres said:

    Back from a lovely long holiday - has anything of note happened in the last few weeks?

    Leon went to Portugal and Spain and posted some pictures. He also got banned for posting AI images, but he's back on both counts now, so quite eventful really.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,278
    Chris said:

    They've fallen into the cunning trap designed to decimate their support among the ultra-high earners,
    Though a few seats with ultra high earners like Cities of London and Westminster and Kensington are Labour target seats at the next general election
  • DynamoDynamo Posts: 651
    Dynamo said:

    Is "drying rack" what posh people call a clothes horse?

    The best place to hang wet clothes if you cannot afford to run radiators is on a clothes horse in front of a coal fire or an open oven door. You will be using the gas oven for heating anyway if you haven't got a coal fire or if you can only afford to heat one room, in which case it should be the kitchen for obvious reasons.
    And the gas oven should

    a) run off bottled gas, not mains gas, and

    b) not require electricity to be lit, with the same applying to the rings and to the grill if it's got one - in other words you should be able to light it with a match.

    It's possible to trust that the oligarchs and the Tory government will prioritise keeping the national grid functioning properly and maintaining the supply of mains gas, but only a fool would be so credulous.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,412

    Dredge the river.
    Don’t be daft! Dead ducks are more important than dead humans.
  • HYUFD said:

    Though a few seats with ultra high earners like Cities of London and Westminster and Kensington are Labour target seats at the next general election
    I rather suspect a lot of +£150K earners are actually wondering why the hell they have been handed a few grand they don't need at this particualr time.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,839
    IshmaelZ said:

    Say a flood is 5 x river capacity. you can't really hope to dredge a river to 2 x what it was undredged. therefore you are stressing the river infrastructure (embankments, banks, bridges, everything) by doubling the load on it (probably a square or cube thing actually so x 4 or x 8) and only slightly ameliorating the flood problem.
    You can stress the load on infrastructure by having floods where they are, as well. A load of five times capacity in one place is worse than a doubled stress everywhere, if maintenance is done properly (appreciate that's quite an 'if'). It's all about trade offs.

    However, from what you're saying it wouldn't help much. Flood plains are part of the infrastructure in itself, designed to swallow excess water, and building on them is an exceptionally stupid idea. Have people forgotten Lynmouth?
  • MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 30,581
    HYUFD said:

    Though a few seats with ultra high earners like Cities of London and Westminster and Kensington are Labour target seats at the next general election
    Lose the RedWall regain Mayfair?
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,839

    Don’t be daft! Dead ducks are more important than dead humans.
    Well, I can see why Truss would think that after the last two days...personal interest and all that.
  • FairlieredFairliered Posts: 5,412
    Pro_Rata said:

    I think that may be wrong.

    One council, may have been Bournemouth, recommended opening windows for a short period to keep your house warm, in addition to the more usual removing condensation.

    Idea was that a change of air in winter pretty much always brought in dryer air than indoor air full of all that breathing, showering, gas hob use etc. and the easier job of bringing dry air up to temperature would more than compensate 20 minutes of heat loss.

    That would include in a rainstorm - water saturated air at 5 degrees would still carry less water than somewhat humid indoor air at 18 degrees.
    Easy to do in Bournemouth. Most of the residents predate central heating and double glazing.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 6,001
    Dynamo said:

    Is "drying rack" what posh people call a clothes horse?

    The best place to hang wet clothes if you cannot afford to run radiators is on a clothes
    horse in front of a coal fire or an open oven door. You will be using the gas oven for heating anyway if you haven't got a coal fire or if you can only afford to heat one room, in which case it should be the kitchen for obvious reasons.
    Ah Dynamo. Good to see you back. I had a revelation today that you were either Seamus Milne or Alan Quartley. - don’t care either way but think I get it now.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,278

    Lose the RedWall regain Mayfair?
    Lose the Redwall but regain Mayfair and Chesham and Amersham and hold Surrey seems to be the Truss and Kwarteng strategy
  • NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,644

    I rather suspect a lot of +£150K earners are actually wondering why the hell they have been handed a few grand they don't need at this particualr time.
    Yes, I know a few (one is in fact a very highly-paid banker), and without exception they think it embarrassing and quite ridiculous.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    ydoethur said:

    You can stress the load on infrastructure by having floods where they are, as well. A load of five times capacity in one place is worse than a doubled stress everywhere, if maintenance is done properly (appreciate that's quite an 'if'). It's all about trade offs.

    However, from what you're saying it wouldn't help much. Flood plains are part of the infrastructure in itself, designed to swallow excess water, and building on them is an exceptionally stupid idea. Have people forgotten Lynmouth?
    You have answered your own question. A flood plain just gets wet and then drains, a bridge washes away. Therefore better to stress the flood plain because there's nothing to break there, unless an arse has built a house on it, which is purely his problem.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830

    Don’t be daft! Dead ducks are more important than dead humans.
    An entirely rubbish point, where do dead ducks come in to it?
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,051
    edited September 2022
    IshmaelZ said:

    Lizzie "no sun farms on sheep farms and let's pump house prices by fucking with stamp duty" Truss?

    If you looked for two seconds at her utterances and actions your hard on for her would detumesce like a birthday balloon attacked with a chainsaw.
    Wasn't she against 'stalinist' housing targets? Doesn't sound like someone trying to make planning in general easier.
  • ChrisChris Posts: 11,838
    HYUFD said:

    Though a few seats with ultra high earners like Cities of London and Westminster and Kensington are Labour target seats at the next general election
    On the current showing, perhaps the Tories are right not to take their heartlands for granted.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 72,839
    IshmaelZ said:

    You have answered your own question. A flood plain just gets wet and then drains, a bridge washes away. Therefore better to stress the flood plain because there's nothing to break there, unless an arse has built a house on it, which is purely his problem.
    Yes, but you do actually want it to drain, and dredging can help with that. Otherwise you get blockages which can cause worse problems (as indeed happened in Lynmouth).
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    Dynamo said:

    Is "drying rack" what posh people call a clothes horse?

    The best place to hang wet clothes if you cannot afford to run radiators is on a clothes horse in front of a coal fire or an open oven door. You will be using the gas oven for heating anyway if you haven't got a coal fire or if you can only afford to heat one room, in which case it should be the kitchen for obvious reasons.
    Other way round, actually. Anything with horse in it is posh.
  • kle4kle4 Posts: 98,051
    IshmaelZ said:

    There's a new development outside Launceston called Kensey Valley Meadow, the Kensey being a river. Floods like fuck, and there is a sewage works in the floodplain.
    A lot of land that does flood semi regularly can actually be very well mitigated such that housing there is not a particular concern.

    But developers do still push their luck on that aspect, and some still gets through which shouldn't in that regard.
  • TimS said:

    No, now they’re “the woke National Trust” for their exhibits about slavery like “the woke RNLI” who pick up migrants in boats.

    RSPB just the latest national treasure to find itself on the opposite side of the Tory culture war, though the woke label is harder to stick on them. NIMBY is more likely (and to be fair birdwatchers have not historically been averse to a bit of nimbyism).
    Have you seen what hapless birdies do to to support interloper cukoos? Naive libtard suckers, the RSPB must condemn!
  • MoonRabbitMoonRabbit Posts: 13,968
    IshmaelZ said:

    Other way round, actually. Anything with horse in it is posh.
    Neigh
  • JohnOJohnO Posts: 4,304
    HYUFD said:

    Lose the Redwall but regain Mayfair and Chesham and Amersham and hold Surrey seems to be the Truss and Kwarteng strategy
    Let’s see their planning ‘reforms’ first. Johnson was forced to withdraw his under the weight of protests from Tory councillors in Surrey and other areas. If Truss and Simon Clarke are seen as the developers’ friends with local democracy by-passed, expect a further wipe out in May’s local elections and beyond.
  • IshmaelZIshmaelZ Posts: 21,830
    ydoethur said:

    Yes, but you do actually want it to drain, and dredging can help with that. Otherwise you get blockages which can cause worse problems (as indeed happened in Lynmouth).
    The Lynmouth blockages seem to have been trees and boulders dislodged by the flood itself. Drdging would not have helped with that.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 126,278
    JohnO said:

    Let’s see their planning ‘reforms’ first. Johnson was forced to withdraw his under the weight of protests from Tory councillors in Surrey and other areas. If Truss and Simon Clarke are seen as the developers’ friends with local democracy by-passed, expect a further wipe out in May’s local elections and beyond.
    Certainly if those development plans encroach too much on the greenbelt yes
  • Pagan2Pagan2 Posts: 10,497
    boulay said:

    Sorry - I know absolutely fuck all about oil rigs or building frankly!

    The point is there are so many intelligent people working in the Uk who - if for example - the govt said “create a solution for this” in the way they did for munitions or inventions firming WW2 then I think great things could happen.

    If they stopped controlling and basically let crazy chaps like bBarnes Wallis have a bit of space and a relatively small amount of
    money try and fail and create them for the price they could create some great things.

    Instead of sticking with the things that exist they need to try everything - if it’s good enough with taxes to take a “throw shot at the wall and see what works” approach then really open it up to inventors, mavericks, loons.

    (The first b in bBarnes Wallis above is a silent “B”; his father dropped it as he felt it was pretentious).

    This wont happen simple reason being everyone likes to moan and vote down everything.

    Like earlier I proposed clawback for pensioners and was castigated because pensioners are poor even though it would only really hit the well off pensioners. Chided by the same sort of people who are here day after day going bloody pensioners hoarding all the money and robbing the young
  • FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 10,022
    If there wasn't enough going on #chinacoup is trending on twitter.
  • Oh dear, Liz Truss’s new Chief of Staff seems to have quite an irregular contractual arrangement.

    https://twitter.com/gabriel_pogrund/status/1573720354555678720?s=46&t=wZTjBKjF_ZcDF3fTIQ7L6A
  • wooliedyedwooliedyed Posts: 10,061
    https://twitter.com/OpiniumResearch/status/1573749108543627269?t=tjb0tSUEWiM7f84EeTodNg&s=19

    Opinium very cleverly leaving out 'reduce taxes and retain current levels of public spending'
  • IshmaelZ said:

    Other way round, actually. Anything with horse in it is posh.
    Best thing is a Dutch dryer. We use it all the time
This discussion has been closed.